How to Grade the Quality of a Game Trailer

The hardest thing about making my list of my favorite Summer Game Fest 2023 trailers was is knowing all the really good work I chose not to include. Something I wrestled with was the lack of AAA games on this list. This wasn't because the AAA game trailers I saw this season were not good. Far from it. I could see the craft and technical skill behind the vast majority of them. For example, this story trailer for Assassin's Creed: Mirage is very well done. The editing is tight, the shots are well composed, the story flows, the music and sound mix are good. It meets all the very high standards I expect of a AAA game trailer, and yet it doesn't really stand out to me.

Shouldn't every trailer made by a professional trailer house, with a dedicated capture team, experienced creative directors, writers, and editors be the best and most memorable?

This made me think of the number of qualities I look for in a really good game trailer. I've watched a LOT of game trailers. While it does often feel like they all fall on a linear spectrum of quality from the most inexperienced trailer makers to the most professional, that's not really how it works. I know this because for this post I failed at my initial attempt to creating a trailer rating system. This is because not all aspects of a game trailer increase in quality with experience, and some top notch trailers are made by people who don't have as much experience. Also, the source material is a HUGE determinant of how novel a trailer will be.

This is an example of a high budget game where the motion graphics are S-tier, but everything else shows lack of experience.

Rather than a linear rating system, I've made a list of game trailer components, with a brief description of what those look like at different levels of experience and quality. I think the items at the top of this list are easier to achieve at a professional looking level, and the ones at the bottom are more difficult (especially if you have a decent budget). I'll explain more after the list.

• Motion Graphics

• Voiceover

• Music

• Editing

• Capture

• Sound

• Messaging

• Direction & Emotion

I think the things at the top of the list are easier to reach a level of quality which looks or sounds "expensive" to the average viewer. This isn't to say it isn't possible to execute each of these things with an incredibly high level of craft. What I mean is, I feel the average viewer will have a tougher time distinguishing these things at low quality and high quality. Really good direction or editing is a subtler thing to spot for someone who doesn't spend a lot of time thinking of these things, because when they're done well you're free to simply enjoy the story or the information being presented.

I've seen low budget game trailers which superficially feel "professional" because of their graphics, voiceover, and/or music like this trailer for Dungeon Legends 2; it looks and sounds like a trailer, but everything else further down the list is just okay. 

By contrast, I've seen trailers which work really well because the strength of the bottom components meant the top components weren't as flashy like in the Baba is You trailer. The direction of this trailer is excellent and makes the game both easy to understand and very compelling. 

I've also seen trailers where the editing and capture are top notch, but the direction makes the whole thing either confusing or underwhelming like in this Crash Team Rumble trailer which has a lot of craft behind it, but in the end I have no idea what this game is, which is what tells me the direction could've been better.

[WARNING FOR FLASHING LIGHTS] This old fan trailer of mine is pretty much a solid B-tier all around. I clearly had edited stuff before, but this is very over-edited like I had something to prove rather than doing it service of the game.

Without further ado, here's a breakdown of each component and what they look and feel like at different levels of craft and quality.

Motion Graphics

These are the title card graphics or "copy cards" which appear in the body of the trailer often describing game mechanics, or the goals of the player character. For example: "40 Amazing Levels!" or "Flirt Your Way Out of Hell." This is at the top of the list because you can get to a decent level of quality by using templates from sites like VideoHive.net or even built in templates from your motion graphics software. Of course, at the highest tiers of motion graphics you have both excellent design, animation, VFX, etc.

C tier - Plain white serif text which is difficult to read, doesn't match the game's art design, and feel like the default text setting in the video editing software. Often placed in hard to read parts of the frame, and/or overlapping gameplay which makes it illegible.

B tier - Graphics which are legible and somewhat stylized, but feel undifferentiated; they could belong to a number of different games, which makes the whole trailer feel kind of generic. Template graphics can easily fall in this territory because the templates aren't made with any particular project in mind. But if you find a template which matches the game's art well, it can make it look and feel that much better.

A tier - Beautifully art directed and/or animated motion graphics which seamlessly integrate into the game's art or world. When you see these title cards, you know what game they're from. Oftentimes, scenes from the game turned into layers with parallax can fall in this category. Matching title cards to the game's art design might sound like a low bar, but many people don't think to do it.

S tier - Not only do the graphics integrate into the game and art design, they feel absolutely essential. Without the graphics, the trailer would be nowhere near as compelling. They make the trailer look incredibly high production value either through strong design, animation, VFX or all put together. These graphics enrich the whole package. 

Someone art directed the crap out of these graphics to make them fit the game perfectly.

Voiceover

I often see inexperienced game trailer editors ask questions like: "What should I put for my voiceover?" to which I always ask: "Does your trailer need voiceover?" Things like voiceover and title cards are never a given to me for any game trailer; they should be used as needed and not before. In the right hands, voiceover can be essential to a trailer. In less experienced hands, the voiceover can bring down the trailer and even make the game look and feel cheaper and more generic than it is.

C tier - Poorly performed voice which doesn't match the game's world or genre, storytelling feels generic and undifferentiated. If it's a developer commentary, it's unfocused, meandering, talks about the individual features without forming a cohesive idea of what the game is.

B tier - Competently performed, sounds like a "trailer narrator," and tells the story or explains the game features in a clear way, but otherwise feel undifferentiated and does not stand out as specific to that game. 

A tier - Excellently performed voice which feels like it belongs in the game's world, and it draws you in. The storytelling is specific and unique to the game. 

S tier - The voiceover is unique and essential to the trailer. It's specific in a way which makes people call it out in comments. It's emotionally affecting in a way only a well performed voiceover can be.

Trailer voiceovers don’t get much better than this. This would not be the same trailer without this voiceover.

Music

Music is of course the lifeblood of a good trailer for a movie or game. It's why my LinkedIn inbox is stuffed full of composers who want to connect with me to work on a project together (ask any trailer maker on LinkedIn and they'll tell you the same). Unfortunately, not everyone has the resources to make their game trailer music really shine, but what a difference it makes. Good music for your trailer is more important than almost anything else in the trailer.

C tier - A monotonous looping music track taken straight from the game which has no dramatic arc, makes the trailer feel flat to the point where a minute feels like an hour and there's no momentum whatsoever. At best it matches the feel of the game. This is why I often say not to use music taken directly from the game. Most of it is designed to loop, which is terrible for a trailer, but sometimes there's something in there which a good trailer editor can cut together.

B tier - A music track which sounds like "trailer music" and has the expected sort of dramatic structure, but is otherwise generic and undifferentiated. No one who listens to the music knows the game it's from. The AAA version of this is often a hip-hop music track even though the game has [insert any game genre or art direction]. The lower budget version of this is royalty free music which you can buy for $50 USD or less on lots of stock music sites like PremiumBeat.com or AudioJungle.com.

A tier - The music feels like it belongs only to that game and creates an emotional dramatic arc takes you on a journey just from listening to it. When combined with the visuals of the trailer it transports you to the world.

S tier - The music IS the trailer. The choice or execution of the music is so brilliant no one talks about the trailer without discussing the music.

Find me anyone who talks about this trailer without mentioning the music. Go on. I’ll wait.

Editing

Editing is one of the hardest things to judge even if you're an experienced editor. This is generally something people will not call out or notice in game trailers unless it's super duper in-your-face. Good editing allows the story to be told in the way it should be and doesn't generally call a lot of attention to itself unless it's in a hype reel or just incredibly over the top.. 

C tier - There's no apparent intent behind the shot order, pacing, rhythm, or storytelling. The lack of intent makes the trailer feel directionless, monotonous, random, chaotic, and fatiguing to watch after a very short amount of time. The only reason people might watch more is if the game itself is inherently compelling from the raw footage.

B tier - The storytelling makes sense, shot order feels logical, the pacing is just enough to keep people watching, but could be tighter. The trailer feels a bit long and you're not always sure what's happening, but you understand more than you don't.

A tier - Great storytelling which makes the pace perfectly match the material whether it's fast paced or slow. You feel the emotional highs and lows. There's just the right amount of suspense which makes you want to see what's coming next.

S tier - The trailer is smooth like butter with no wasted moment. Everything feels like it falls into place exactly where it should be. Everything is clear, perfectly paced. Cuts feel SO packed with meaning and intent that it draws attention to itself while also adding to the trailer rather than trying to upstage everything else. Keep in mind, MORE editing does not mean better editing. If a trailer is over-edited it can make the trailer far worse. It depends on the source material and direction of the trailer. Some trailers benefit from very fast paced editing, and others are worse off for it.

Editing is one thing which will pretty much always be A or S-tier when you work with a professional. At the high levels of experience, the quality of the trailer often hinges on the overall creative direction.

Capture

The sky really is the limit on how good capture can be because it's filmmaking with virtually no boundaries or limits (except for time and available debug options). Really good capture makes game trailers really stand out, but it has to sit on a solid foundation of the editing and overall direction. Good capture can be brought down if the trailer doesn't have the fundamentals in working order.

C tier - The game trailer maker captured a bunch of footage and picked shots from that raw footage. It was just "played normally" with little to no consideration for player intent, clarity, timing, blocking, etc. Camera movements are jerky and affect overall readability. They probably captured with the music on too, which means none of the sound effects were usable, so the trailer has no sound effects at all.

B tier - Raw footage from long gameplay sessions, but well selected for clarity and intent for each moment. Could still stand to be re-captured for each moment, but it gets the job done.

A tier - Shots are all captured specifically for the trailer even when the intent is to look like "raw gameplay." All the shots are clear, well composed, and choreographed. Story and gameplay are compelling and easy to understand.

S tier - The capture artists took great care to capture using every camera debug tool at their disposal. Shots feel cinematic like they're taken straight out of a movie. Camera movements feel like they've been done with real world cameras (except when depicting in-game camera angles and movements). But this is all still in service of the direction of the trailer.

Pretty much all the capture from anything made by trailer house Altar Creative is S-tier in my book.

Sound

Sound design is generally not as flashy in game trailers compared to work being done in movies where virtually every eye blink has its own over-the-top sound effect. I think one reason is because games already have a very heightened reality with over-the-top sound effects. Whereas movies often need to augment more naturalistic sounds. In game trailers I'm always looking for in-game sound effects and how well they integrate into the trailer. I'll also look for trailer sound effects, but those generally are less of a thing unless they're AAA game trailers. 

Sound is severely under appreciated despite often being the most important part of a trailer. People will watch something with low quality video as long as it has high quality sound. Conversely, something which is shot with the most sophisticated cameras with expensive lenses and great cinematography will be far less tolerable if the sound is muffled, distorted, or otherwise not good. If you can get the sound to the trailer to be top notch, everything else falls into place.

C tier - No sound effects (most common) or very chaotic sound effects, obtrusive sound effects which overlap with music and dialogue in a disruptive way. This is like a band playing at the same time as an orchestra (but they're two separate performances)

B tier - The sound effects from the game are in the trailer, but feel sort of like they're in the background rather than acting like additional soundtrack to enhance the trailer. Some sounds get cut off here and there at the beginning and end of clips in a way which a professional will notice, but the average viewer might just detect as something feeling off.

A tier - The sound effects are well integrated into the trailer as if they're an additional percussion track. They add texture to the trailer and enhance the sense of what it feels like to play the game. Steps were made to make sure the sound effects track wasn't super busy and disruptive.

S tier - The game audio and trailer sound effects make the trailer look and feel hard hitting and/or contribute a lot of texture. The sound punctuates the right

This trailer has a really great sound mix, hard hitting sound design for the graphics and so much punch and texture!

Messaging

I did a whole talk with my PR & Marketing Expert friend Dana Trebella about messaging. In essence it's the words used to talk about the game. In trailers the messaging determines what the title cards say, what the voiceover is, and the overall direction of the trailer. For this section I'm mostly focusing on the title cards and voiceover.

C tier - No apparent consideration to messaging, trailer is confusing, title cards focus on features which are really terrible selling points which are not differentiated in any way and make the game sound worse than it probably is. 

B tier - Uses boilerplate player verbs to describe the player experience. For example, a game about saving the world would be: attack, fight enemies, use items, find treasure, fight bosses, get power ups, upgrade your character, customize. It's all accurate, but very bare bones and obvious. You wouldn't try to sell someone a lavish vacation by telling them they'd walk, eat, read, climb, and drive a lot.

A tier - The title cards or voiceover are interesting and unique, focusing on the high level fantasy the game is fulfilling rather than the literal player verbs. The title cards are not so catchy to the point they sound like a really well written tag line, but they clearly explain what makes the game interesting. 

S tier - When you read the title cards for this trailer (or listen to the voiceover) you're thinking of that game and that game alone. The chosen words are either clever, poetic, poignant, or noteworthy. It not only fits the game perfectly, but it's the first thing that comes out of your mouth when someone asks you about the game. 

This tagline from Afterparty is great and proof a game trailer with strong messaging starts with the game’s design

Direction & Emotion

This is closely tied together with the messaging, but this is how the trailer decides what to show you and how in order to achieve a specific goal. The goal could be teaching you how the game works, it could be making you feel sad for one of the player characters, or maybe they want you to feel suspense and mystery. The direction is the spine of the whole trailer that the other components align to fulfill (or not)

C tier - Little to no discernible direction. Feels like a bunch of random clips, poor readability, the only reason we understand anything is from the raw gameplay, but the cuts mean nothing, there's no structure. It's like a really bad game pitch which jumps around, and doesn't talk about things in the right order.

B tier - Very basic direction which has understanding of the bare minimum necessary for a game trailer. The trailer gets the job done, shots occur in a logical order and everything is clear. It feels like information was conveyed as needed, but not much else. 

A tier - The trailer has excellent storytelling with emotional highs and lows which take you on a journey. Each moment is packed with intent and feels impactful. As appropriate to each moment, you feel excited, sad, joyful, scared, or any other number of emotions.

S tier - You are beside yourself with emotion after watching this trailer. Maybe you're incredibly hyped, feeling inspired, about to break down in tears, or laughing your butt off. This trailer connected with you and you can't believe how you're feeling because of something advertising a video game.

This trailer has top notch direction. I feel every moment and they all do precisely what they intend to

Multiplier

My subtitle for this section is: This is my hole, it was made for me (from the image from the horror manga by Junji Ito). Some game trailers will just affect some people more than others because of the genre, art style, game design, content, etc. People have strong preferences for all of these things, and when they align, that trailer becomes exponentially more impactful for that person than anyone else. This is not something which can be improved upon with trailer craft, because it's deeply personal to that person. The best you can hope to do with a game trailer is to know who that person is, and make the trailer for them.

Keeping the target audience of a game in mind at all times is essential to finding a good direction for the trailer based on what they'll respond to positively. Knowing the target audience could actually mean not targeting them (because maybe they'll be bought in regardless of anything you do), and instead targeting a group of people who would otherwise not know to be interested in your game. 

Some game trailers will connect with people for reasons completely separate from the quality of the trailer’s individual components. But when executed best, the game will look THAT much more appealing to the target audience.

Final Thoughts

There are SO many things which need to align to make a good game trailer, but if you know what to prioritize based off your game, you're more likely to succeed even if you're less experienced. I hope after reading this post you can look at game trailers with a more critical eye. It takes a lot of practice to analyze, but looking closely at each individual component of a game trailer helps you understand why a trailer worked or didn't.